1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical device that is capable of selecting a focus detection point, a method of controlling the same, and a storage medium, and more particularly to an optical device that performs focus detection at a focus detection point which is selected from a plurality of focus detection points.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, in optical devices, such as a digital camera, there has been known one configured to select a ranging point (focus detection point) according to information on the sight line of a viewfinder observer, object information, and a ranging point-selecting operation by a photographer. Further, there have been proposed various optical devices which have an object detection function for detecting information on an object (object information) (see e.g. Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2005-338352).
The optical device described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2005-338352 performs detection of eyes of a person (object) included in an image obtained by an image pickup section, and sets a focus frame indicative of the position and size of the object on which the camera is to be focused, according to the result of the detection, thereby detecting an in-focus position for photographing.
Further, there have been proposed various optical devices having a sight line detection function for detecting the line of sight of a viewfinder observer, (see e.g. Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. H07-218813).
An optical device described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. H07-218813 has an automatic setting mode, a sight line detection mode, and a manual setting mode, as modes for selecting a ranging point, and one of these modes is selected by switching therebetween using a slide switch. Further, in a case where the ranging point is being set in the sight line detection mode, if a signal for manual setting of the ranging point is input by an operation of the user, the priority is given to the input for the manual setting to thereby cause the intention of a photographer (user) to be reflected on the setting of the ranging point.
In addition, some optical devices including a digital camera have a touch panel mounted on a display that displays an object image, and are configured such that a ranging point is selected by a touch operation.
However, when a ranging point is selected by the above-mentioned object detection function, the ranging point is sometimes erroneously detected depending on the size, color, and brightness of an object. On the other hand, in detecting the line of sight using the sight line detection function, a difference is generated in the detection of the line of sight, depending on an eyeball of an individual observer (i.e. user), which one of right and left eyes the observer uses for observation, etc. Even when this difference is corrected e.g. by calibration, it is sometimes difficult to select a ranging point as intended by the photographer.
In addition, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. H07-218813, setting a ranging point using both of the object detection function and the sight line detection function is not performed. Further, there is no description about how to determine a ranging point by selecting, using the sight line detection function, between a plurality of ranging points set using the object detection function. Further, there is no description about how to determine a ranging point in a case where a ranging point selecting operation (i.e. a change of the ranging point) by a photographer is performed after the ranging point has been selected using the object detection function and the sight line detection function.
Further, in a case where a user performs photographing while looking into a viewfinder of an optical device, such as a single lens reflex camera, even if the display device is equipped with a touch panel, to select the ranging point using the touch panel, the user has to move the line of sight from the viewfinder to the display device, and hence it is difficult to select the ranging point by a touch operation.